Shoutin' Out to Nina and Lorri

Yesterday, I challenged you all to guess where the names McKenna, Delaney, and Scout came from. I went ahead and told you how we often call Sydney by her nickname, Scout, which came from To Kill a Mockingbird (which is both mine and Gary's favorite book). The character in the book is precocious and wise-beyond-her-years, and the message of the book is so powerful. The book--and the character--is something that has stayed with me since I first read it when I was 14-years-old. I reread the book every year and it resonates even more strongly with me every new time I discover it.

As readers, Gary and I wanted to do something literary with Sydney's name. We actually also considered Brett (from The Sun Also Rises) and thought briefly of "officially" going with Scout, but then compromised with Sydney because we couldn't really find another name that we both agreed on. But now, Sydney is Sydney maybe half the time; the other half of the time, she's Scout. (I guess she may have some sort of multiple personality problem because of it, but we'll see where it takes her as time goes by).

So...you all already knew where Scout came from.

My other questions to you were:
* What movie inspired the name McKenna?
and
* What song did Delaney come from?

Nina (who is blessed with the last name of Delaney) immediately jumped in with the answer to the second question. She was right when she said that Delaney came from the Jimmy Buffett song, "Delaney Talks to Statues."

When I found out that I was pregnant with Delaney, Gary adamantly declared that our daughter would be named Delaney. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it; I would just have to accept his choice. I guess it's good that I fell in love with the name as soon as he suggested it.

Gary has always loved Jimmy Buffett (Gary is definitely a live-by-the-water, pina colada sort of guy) and his song, "Delaney Talks to Statues," is a beautiful song about the love between a father and a daughter. It really captured the excitement Gary had when he found out he was going to be a father for the first time. The song is extra special because, when Delaney was a baby, there were many nights that Gary would rock her to sleep with the song; and as a toddler and young girl, it was often her nighttime lullaby of choice.

Wanna be convinced of just how precious a song it is? Listen to Jimmy B. sing it...

Delaney Talks To Statues - Jimmy Buffett

So, yay for Nina for guessing the Delaney connection correctly. (Go to her blog HERE and show her some love!)

Now, how about the question regarding McKenna's name. What movie inspired that choice?

That question was apparently a little bit tougher, until Lorri popped in with the correct answer (after, it seems, doing quite a bit of research on the topic). She was absolutely right when she guessed that McKenna came from the movie, "Somewhere in Time."

(If Lorri had a blog, I'd send you her way. But she doesn't. So just join me in yelling "Hurray!" to her for getting the question right.)

When trying to decide on McKenna's name, her dad and I knew that we wanted something unique. We looked, and looked, and looked some more, through every baby name book we could get our hands on. We finally found McKenna in a list of names that are actually Scottish last names and we just fell in love with it (today, there are actually other little McKennas running around in the world; at the time, though, we had never heard of another McKenna and everyone would invariably make the comment about how beautiful and unique it was).

When I found the name in that baby name book, my mind immediately flew to one of my favorite romance movies ever..."Somewhere in Time." The main character's name is Elise McKenna and I had always just loved her character, and her name, and the movie itself. (My friends, Angela and Carol and Cheryl, and I went through a stage in college when we would watch the movie quite regularly, and swoon over Christopher Reeve in it). It also has the most haunting musical score (featuring Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini"). Whenever I hear that composition today, it makes me think of my own McKenna.

In case you've never heard of the movie, here's the original trailer for it (it even mentions her name in it)...



So, now I guess you know more about my daughters' names than you ever really needed to know. But thanks for letting me share those stories with you; it was kinda neat to think about them today.